Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

The Palestinian people have been subjected to starvation, occupation, dispossession and genocide at the hands of Israel. This is ethnic cleansing and a human tragedy of unimaginable scale. Israel has shown no restraint in its onslaught on the Palestinian people, and the Irish Central Bank is supporting this violence by facilitating the sale of Israeli war bonds.

The Government has said it will do everything in its power to stop this genocide, but the reality is that we are complicit in this genocide for as long as Israeli arms shipments are allowed to pass through our airspace, as long as the Government continues to delay and attempt to water down the occupied territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill and while our Central Bank continues to facilitate the sale of Israeli war bonds.

We have a legal and moral obligation to act, and that is why the response from Government to this Bill has been appalling. It is patting itself on the back for its delayed and limited actions, while giving excuses as to why it cannot stop the facilitation of these bonds and the funding of this genocide. The Government has deliberately misrepresented what this is about. These bonds have to be approved by a European central bank and it is the Irish Central Bank that fulfils that role. No other central bank provides that permission. Shame on the Government for trying to mislead people and its failure to once again show real leadership in standing up for the people of Palestine.

The situation in Gaza and the need for action could not be any more urgent. How can the Government sit on its hands and block legislation that would meaningfully undermine Israel's ability to fund its campaign of genocide? Hiding behind utterly false legal excuses is cowardly. The time for empty rhetoric has well passed. I call on the Government as a whole to use its conscience and the power it has and end the funding of this genocide.

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